Infinite MonkeysCBS This Morning interviewed Melissa Barton, mom of Alex, yesterday. The video is here. The Treasure Coast Palm has a follow up story on the international attention the kindergartner's case has received.
Clearly, young Alex Barton has problems. It isn't difficult to imagine that his problems very quickly became a problem for his teacher and his classmates. But however Alex might have disrupted his Port St. Lucie, Fla., kindergarten class, his behavior cannot possibly justify the stupid, cruel and vile behavior of his teacher, Wendy Portillo. Kindergarten shouldn't be an episode of "Survivor."
The comments on the CBS story -- running in excess of 750 as I post this -- are illuminating. Perhaps it's not surprising that there is a small but vocal cadre of support for the teacher and against the Bartons. The argument is straightforward, and not without merit: Special needs kids and especially children with learning disabilities should be in separate classrooms, where they can get the attention they need and not be a distraction to other students. It's tough to disagree. But, often, it's a question of limited resources.
The other day, I mentioned the child in my son's kindergarten class with Asperger's. That boy's parents spend thousands of dollars a month on one-on-one aid. Obviously, not everyone can afford that kind of help. What's more, public schools are bound by state and federal law to do everything they can for learning disabled children, including "mainstreaming" those kids in regular classrooms.
But I think a pretty good case can be made that mainstreaming, however well-intended, may not always be the best choice for special-ed kids, especially in public school settings. Alex Barton is undoubtedly a fine young man to whom a terrible injustice has been done. I hope Wendy Portillo is exiled from the classroom forever. Alex deserves better. So do his classmates. They have a right to learn (relatively) free from disruption and he needs special care -- care, clearly, the public schools cannot and may never be able to provide.
Posted by Ben at May 28, 2008 10:54 PM